Grain-door for cars.



No. 806,233. PATENTED DEG. 5, 1905. W. L. AURAND. `GRAIN DOOR FOR GARS. ummm-10N FILED un 5, 1905 v .Lw ('lmlnventorv Attorneys 2 5 present invention consists inthe combination "end of the door to permit of the grain beingl ser -g IINIrnI) srnrns PATENT. OFFICE;

"WILLIAM L. AURAND, oFMILFoRD, ILLINOIS. y

GRAIN-Doon FOR GARS.`

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dee. 5, 1905.

Application filed April 5, i905'. Serial No. 253,970.A

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, WILLIAM L. AURAND, a citizen .of the United States, residin at Milford, in the county of Iroquois and tate of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Gram-Door for Cars, of which the following lis a specification.

ThisV invention relates 'to inside doors or grain-doors for freight-cars, and has for its object to simplify the mounting of such doors whereby they may be run up to the topvof the car when not in use and conveniently ldrawn down and'locked when required for use.,

j It is furthermore designed to provide for preventing the doors from Working loose under the jarring movements ofthe car and at the same time to-facilitate releasing and ele vating the doors while .unloading -the car.

Another object of theinvention is to permit outward swinging or tilting of the lower ischarged beneath the lower edge of the oor. l

With theseV and other objects in view the and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularly ointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor ydetails may be made within the sco e of the claims without de'- lparting from t e spirit or sacricing any of 35 the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 vis a side elevation of a ortion of la freight-car, showing the doors of) the-present invention mounted thereon.- Fig.V 2 is Aavertical sectional view taken transversely` throudh the doors.v Fig. 3 is a horizontal seotiona view on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1j. Fig. 4 is a detail view of one of the guideways forthe door. Fig. 5 is a detail cross-sectional view of the guideway. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of one of the lower corners of the door. Fig.l 7 is a detail perspective view of a terminal of one of the supporting-bars at the tops of the door-sections. Fig. 8 isa fragmentary perspective View of one of the keeper-plates.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in each'and every iigure of the drawings.

In disclosin the present invention a portion of an or inary t e of freight-car has been shown at 1 in the rawings, said car being provided with the usual 'side doorway 2, which is ordinarily closed by an outsideslid- -ing door, the latternot being shown in the drawings. In carrying out the present invention an lupright guideway 3 is connected.

to each door-post 4, as best illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. This guideway isin the nature of a channel-bar having the inner faces o'f its sides undercut to form a dovetailed guideway, as best shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, and the guideway is. held in place by means of fastenings 5, such as screws. The upper end of the guideway is enlarged, as at 6, to form a pocket, and other smaller pockets 7 and 8 are formed at about4 ithe middle and adjacent the lower end of the guideway, each of the latter pockets being segmental in shape and projected entirely at the front of the guideway. As best indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, it will 'be noted that the guideways are let into the door-postsso as to be flush with the inner corners thereof, and the lower ends ofthe guideways extend downwardly slightly more (than one-halfofthe height of the doorway.

The present door is made in upper and lower sections, (designated 9 and 10,) eachsection being provided at its upper end with across-bar 11,which is secured across the front face of the door and isA provided with enlarged dovetailed terminals 12, preferably conical' in shape, to work in the guideways and capable of being received within'the respective seats or pockets 7 and S when the sections are closed and in use. When the door is olosed,the lower edge of the lower sec' tion 10 rests upon the floor of the car, while the lowerv edge of the upper section rests vupon the top edge of the lower section'and is provided with a plate or strip 13, secured to the back of the upper section and lapping the joint of the two door-sections,- so as to close Vsaid joint and prevent the escape of grain therefrom.

When the' graindoor is not in use, the up- Vper section is lifted slightly and then moved rearwardly, so as to move the heads or ter-- minals of the bar 11 out of the seats 7 in the *guidewaysI 3, whereupon the door is lifted until the ends of the bar come into the upper pockets 6, and then the lower edge of the door is swung upwardly and inwardly and each free corner engaged with a keeper or clip 14, loosely hung from the top of the car, thereby to hold the door-section in an overhead vposition when not required for use.

ICO

After the upper section has thus been supported in an elevated position the lower section is run up in the same manner and supported in its elevated position by means of a pendent clip or bracket 15, similar to the bracket 14. l

It will here be explained that when the door-sections are in use they are held against substantially upward displacement by the tops of the seats 7 and 8, and the bottoms of these seats are dropped or depressed below the passages between the seats and the guideway, so as to prevent inward movement of the ends of the bars 11 in the guideways. In other words, it is necessary to first lift the doors and then force them rearwardly or inwardly to bring the bars into the guideways.

The means for locking the lower free end of the lower door-section when in use consists of a cross-bar 16, disposed across the front of the lower portion of the bar and mounted for vertical movement in a pair of loops or brackets 17, embracing the end portions of the bar and secured to the front of the door-section. These brackets are located inwardly from the upright edges of the door, and the locking-bar 16 extends substantially to the upright edges of the door, said ends of the bar being dropped or depressed, as at 18, so as to come down close to the bottom edge of the door and engage sockets or keepers 19, secured to the bottom of the car and against the respective door-posts, whereby the door is held against swinging movements both inwardly and outwardly. Upon the top of the bar are upstanding projections or shoulders 20, which overlap the tops of the respective brackets 17 at the inner sides thereof, so as to prevent endwise displacement of the bar from the brackets without interfering with the elevation of the bar. To release the door, the locking-bar 16 is elevated until its depressed ends 18 clear the tops of the seats or sockets 19, whereupon the door may be swung inwardly, and in order that the door may be swung outwardly its lower corners are cut away obliquely, as at 21, so as to swing across the tops of the keepers without interference thereby.

In addition to the locking-bar 16 there is another locking-bar 22, located above and parallel with the bar 16 and connected thereto by a pair of upright cross-bars 23, the end portions of the bar 22 being received within the loops or brackets 24, similar to the brackets 17, and the extremities of the bar 22 be- I ing received within keepers 25, carried by the respective door-posts. As best indicated in `Fig. 8 of the drawings, it will be noted that each set of keepers 19 and 25 is carried by a metallic plate or bar 26, which is secured to the adjacent door-post, the keeper 25 being substantially L-sha ed to support the ends of the bar 22. As s own in Fig. 6, it will be noted that each upright edge of the lower door 10 is notched or cut away, so as to pass by the adjacent keeper 25 when the door is swung outwardly.

By reference to Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings it will be noted that each door is provided upon its rear side and at each upright edge with a hinged flap 28, which is capable of being folded against the adjacent doorpost when the door is closed, so as to effectually close the joint between the door and the door-post and in particular to close the joints produced by the cut-away portions 21 and 27 of the lower door. When the doors are folded up against the top of the car, the flaps 28 are of course folded inwardly across the backs of the doors.

It will here be explained that the upper terminal pocket 6 of each guideway 3 is offset rearwardly and located above the top of the doorway, whereby when the doors are swung upwardly and supported in the clips 14 and 15 said doors lie entirely above the upper edge of the doorway, and therefore do not obstruct the doorway.

Having fully described the invention,what is claimed is- 1. The combination with a freight-car having a side doorway, of a grain-door mounted to swing in and out upon a horizontal axis, keepers provid ed upon the ear in front of the door, and a horizontally-disposed lockingbar mounted upon the door for vertical movement with its ends formed for engagement with the keepers to lock the door, the edge of the door being cut away in alinement with the keepers to swing forwardly past the same when the locking-bar is disengaged from the keepers, the locking-bar being spaced above and lying adjacent the floor of the ear to receive a pry-bar beneath the locking-bar and against the floor of the car as a fulcrum-suport.

p 2, The combination with a freight-ear having a side doorway, of a door mounted to swing upon a horizontal axis, keepers secured in the lower corners of the doorway in front of the door, and a vertically-movable horizontally-disposed locking-bar carried by the front of the door with its ends formed for engagement with the keepers, the lower co1'- ners of the door being cut away to swing forwardly across the tops of the keepers when the locking-bar has been elevated out of engagement with said keepers, the locking-bar being spaced above and located adjacent the floor of the car to receive a pry-bar beneath the locking-bar and against the floor as a fulcrum-support.

3. The combination with a freight-car having a side doorway, of a door mounted to swing upon a horizontal axis, keepers located in the lower corners of the doorway, the lower corners of the door being cut away to swing across the tops of the keepers, opposite brackets carried by the front of the door, and a IOO IIO

substantially horizontal locking-.bar engaging said brackets and movable'vertically thereon, the ends of the locking-bar being downwardly offset for engagement with the ing a side doorway, of upright guideways upon the door-posts and provided with corresponding upper and lower laterally-extended seats, and upper and lower door-sections havy ing guide lprojections working in the guideways 'and normally received within -the corresponding seats from which the door-sections hang when the door is closed.

-5. The combination with a freight-car having a side' doorway, of upright guideways upon the door-posts and provided with correv sponding upper and lower laterally-extended seats, and upper and lower door-sections having guide projections working in theguideways and normally received within the corresponding seats Jfrom which the door-sections' hang when the door is closed, the'lower secl tion being independent'of vthe upper section and capable of-having its lower end swung outwardly upon'its guide projections as supports. f Y

6. The combination with a freight-car having aside doorway, of upright guideways carried by the guide-posts and provided at l their-upper ends with laterally-enlarged pockets, said guideways being provided with corresponding upper and lower seats projected at one side thereof, independent upper and lower door-sections having guide projections working in the guideway and received within the' corresponding seats from which the doorsections hang when closed, each section capable of being slid upwardly in the guideway to bring its 'projections into the pockets and then swung upwardly against the top of the car, and means carried by the top of the car for detachably supporting the door-sections when elevated.

7. The combination with a freight-car having a side doorway, of a grain-door. vmounted to swing in and out upon a horizontal axis, plates secured to the door-posts and carrying the upper and lower keepers projected across the front of the door, upper and lower con-` nected substantially horizontal locking-bars mounted upon the door for vertical movementwith their ends formed for engagement with the keepers to ylock the door, the upright'edges of the door being cut away in alinement with'the keepers to swing forwardly pastV the same when the locking-bars aredisengaged from the keepers.

In testlmony that l claim the foregoing as y my own I have hereto alXe'd my signature in the presence of two witnesses. f j. v WlLLlAM L. AURAND.

Witnesses: f

CHAs. A. HARMAN, HORACE RUssELL, 

